But that some may not in reply to our teachings unreasonably say that according to us Christ was born 150 years ago in the time of Cyrenius, and taught what we assert Him to have taught at a later time under Pontius Pilate, and so object that all men who lived before Him were irresponsible, let us solve the difficulty in advance. We were taught that Christ is the firstborn of God, and we have already signified that He is the reason, in which every race of men did share. Thus those who lived with reason are Christians even if they were counted godless, as of the Greeks, Socrates, Heraclitus and others like them, and of the barbarians Abraham, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, Elijah, and many others, whose names and acts we decline to set down here, knowing that they would be long to tell.